water testing

[gjh7]

Hi,

I've very recently set up my first (ever) tank. I had it running for about a week before having the water tested at my local aquatics store. They told me all was well and I stocked it with four small tiger barbs (it will be a tiger barb only tank). I'm planning to add 2-4 more in a couple of weeks. It's a small tank (35 litres; ~8 gallons). (Aside, the staff in the store told me I can have 8 tiger barbs in my tank, although after doing a bit of research I'm now not so sure...)

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how frequently I should check the water conditions myself. I'm quite nervous about ensuring my fish have a happy environment to live in! They've only been in 4 days but seem happy enough!

Also, are the strips more appropriate for a newbie than the more complicated kits that I know are available? Or should I just continue to have the water checked at the store?

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Cheers,

Gareth

 

[annka5]

First, the bad news: the water was probablly reading as being Ok after a week becuase there was nothing much in it to cause ammonia to enter the water -e.g. no fish poo. Ammonia is really toxic to fish.
In a mature aquarium, ammonia is generated as fish poo, uneaten food decomposes, and even as a by-product of the fish breathing. Then bacteria form to convert this ammonia into nitrite. Nitrite is still toxic for fish, but a different type of bacteria will form to convert this to nitrate, which is pretty safe for fish, and limited by doing partial water changes.
So, normally, there is a few weeks of "cycling" the tank, where you encourage the good bacteria to form. See pinned topics for details.
You therefore need to either be changing around 50% of the water every day to keep the ammonia levels down until enough bacteria have formed, or take the fish back to the shop.
Second: I've never kept tiger barbs, but would imagine that as they are fairly active fish they would ideally need good amount of swimming space.
Re: test kits. I would get one, not rely on the shop. It's just the shop are likely to say "it's OK" rather than telling you any more detail. Lots of people say the strips are too inaccurate; however I have them and think they are accurate ENOUGH for what I want to know - if (e.g.) nitrate is 20 and the test reads it as 15 or 25, it won't make that much difference. The big test kits are better though more ££.